In line with the release of the new book, Monsters of New Jersey by Loren Coleman and Bruce G. Hallenbeck, Dave Lowe shares the ultimate secret behind the Jersey Devil:

Meanwhile, in the area of track cast identification, Lowe adds insights for us there too:

Futhermore, here’s a link to the Coast to Coast AM program, broadcast on Labor Day:

“New Jersey Cryptids”

Date:
09-06-10
Host:
George Noory
Guest:
Loren Coleman

In the first half, cryptozoologist Loren Coleman talked about his latest work on the Monsters of New Jersey [coauthored with Bruce Hallenbeck, from Stackpole Books] including the Jersey Devil. The lore of the Jersey Devil goes back to 1735, when a Mrs. Leeds was having her 13th baby, and made a remark like ‘the devil can have this baby.’ The baby was reported to have a forked tail and could talk right away. It said some unkind words to the mother and then flew up the chimney and went off into the New Jersey Pine Barrens, he recounted. Over the years people have reported seeing a devil-like creature with horns and wings. In 1909, over a hundred people in the Pine Barrens area described seeing a creature like a flying horse or winged lion. In more recent years, what’s called the Jersey Devil, is now described as more of a feral human/Bigfoot creature, Coleman pointed out.

There have been numerous reports of Bigfoot-type creatures in New Jersey dating back to the 1800s. Coleman believes that Bigfoot is a flesh and blood creature, not a paranormal manifestation, and that it could be related to the Paranthropus breed of hominids, thought to be extinct. He also discussed sightings/reports of a giant bird or Thunderbird in the New Jersey area that made a sound like “woo-woo-woo” and was said in one instance in 1975 to cause a bush to be sucked up just by the power of its wings’ flapping.

For more revealing facts and fakery regarding the Jersey Devil, please read…

Monsters of New Jersey.